BLACK THEOLOGY OF LIBERATION AND RADICAL DEMOCRACY: A DIALOGUE

Vuyani Vellem

Abstract

Radical Democracy proposes that capitalism should be theorised deeply and furthermore, that the liberal tradition must not be denounced and rejected by the Left. It is possible that what seems to be a ‘confusion,’ or ‘confoundedness,’ ‘diffusion’ and ‘vicious’ co-optation of liberation symbols since the demise of Apartheid, the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of the Soviet Union could be unravelled with this theory of Radical Democracy. More importantly, Black Theology of Liberation and its symbiosis with Black Consciousness – having assumed that socialism rather than capitalism was an appropriate historical project of obedience to the Gospel of Jesus Christ – must urgently engage Radical Democracy in order to deal with the rhetoric of liberation that is becoming increasingly sterile. This article argues that Black Theology of Liberation must move beyond reasserting, or rearticulating its core values by recommitting itself to social analysis – mokgwa wa yona (its very nature) – and relate to social theories of the reality of our current context. Radical Democracy is thus chosen as a conversant to examine our social reality post-1994 and to identify lessons that could be drawn from this theory.

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